A few weeks ago, most people, myself included, looked at the White Sox upcoming schedule and kind of did a "gulp." Then, when Munetaka Murakami went down with a hamstring injury, it was pretty easy to be concerned that the White Sox were about to take a few lumps.
Being the glass-half-full guy that I am, I called it a big opportunity for the upstart White Sox to make a statement and tell the rest of baseball they are legitimate contenders to be taken seriously.
After this past week, it appears the White Sox viewed the stretch in similar fashion, as they have made a statement.
The stretch I'm talking about:
They lost two of three in Philly, but then took both games from the Braves -- the third was rained out -- and won two of three from the two-time defending champion Dodgers. They went 4-1 against the teams that entered the week with the two best records in baseball. That's a Big Boy statement.
The White Sox have now played 70 games and have won 38 of them. Last season, they didn't win their 38th game until they had already accumulated 66 losses. This time around, they are in a virtual tie for first place with the Guardians.
Further, keep in mind that the Sox started this season 6-13. Since then, they are 32-19. The only American League team with a better record in that span is the Yankees. Speaking of which ...
The rough out-of-division stretch for the White Sox now concludes to start this next week in the Bronx. The Yankees don't have Aaron Judge, by the way, so this is a workable series. Not that the White Sox need any extra help. This team is feisty and is proving itself against the best competition MLB has to offer.
If someone had asked, heading into the season, what's the highest I'd be ranking the White Sox, there's no way I would've said in the top 10. I did stress multiple times that they wouldn't come in last, but that was the extent of my positivity for the South Siders. They are blowing past expectations and don't appear to be slowing down. They are holding the No. 7 spot in the rankings this week. What a rise.
Biggest Movers 8 Marlins 7 Blue Jays RkTeams ChgRcrd 1
Dodgers It was rough on Saturday seeing Yoshinobu Yamamoto lose a perfect game on an error in the eighth before coughing up a homer in the ninth, but he's still on a scorching hot run. In his last five starts, he has a 1.01 ERA and 0.62 WHIP. 1 45-27 2 
Braves I think we're officially in the midst of the first downturn for the Braves all season. They just lost four of five on a road trip, including a series loss to the Mets. Perhaps hosting the Giants to start next week will be just what the doctor ordered. 1 46-25 3 
Brewers No hyperbole: that Jacob Misiorowski start on Friday night is on the short list of candidates for the greatest start in MLB history. It's mind-boggling to see a line that has 15 strikeouts and only 95 pitches in nine innings. -- 43-26 4 
Yankees Aaron who? The Yankees have now won six of seven. 2 43-27 5 
Rays Weird week for the Rays. They swept the Red Sox and it looked like maybe they were back on track, but then they lost a series to the lowly Angels. Can they rebound at Dodger Stadium now? That's a tall order, but also an opportunity. 2 41-27 6 
Phillies It's actually remarkable how well the Phillies have played, for the most part, since firing Rob Thomson, considering the offense is a three-man show. If you exclude Bryce Harper, Kyle Schwarber and Brandon Marsh, the next-best OPS+ belongs to Bryson Stott, at 82 -- that is, he's 18% below league average at getting on base and hitting for power and he's the Phillies' fourth-best hitter. 2 38-33 7 
White Sox The Braden Montgomery walk-off homer in his MLB debut is going to end up being one of the most fun moments of the 2026 season. 4 38-32 8 
Guardians The Guardians had lost six of seven before getting two from the Tigers over the weekend. 3 39-33 9 
Cardinals Jordan Walker just went nuts again. Prior to Sunday's 0-fer, he had a nine-game stretch with a .381 average, five doubles, three homers and 12 RBI. He's 24 years old and I think it's now safe to say this is his breakout season. He looks like a star. 1 38-31 10 
Mariners They insist on making things as difficult as possible for their fans, don't they? The Mariners finally climbed into first place in the worst division in baseball, but now they've lost four of five. 1 37-36 11 
Marlins The Marlins are legitimately one of the hottest teams in baseball. They've now won 10 of their last 12 games. 8 36-36 12 
Nationals Is switch-hitting catcher Keibert Ruiz breaking out offensively? He's up to .282 with a .507 slugging percentage after a monster game on Sunday. The future foundation already includes James Wood, CJ Abrams and Daylen Lile (with a special shout out to Curtis Mead) and it would be nice to add Ruiz to that group. 2 37-35 13 
Padres The Padres have won back-to-back series for the first time since April 23. 3 37-33 14 
Pirates The rotation needs to be one of the biggest strengths on the team. As such, it's a problem how much Mitch Keller has fallen apart. He now has an 8.70 ERA in his last six starts. In his last three starts? It's 12.79. 4 36-36 15 
Rangers We've known for years that Wyatt Langford has enough talent to become a superstar, so any time he gets hot, there's a feeling of, "Is this it? Is this the star turn?" Well, he's 6 for 12 with a double and a home run in his last three games. Is this it? Here he comes?!? 2 35-36 16 
Athletics As we saw last season, Tyler Soderstrom's home runs come in bunches. He's hit four in his last six games. 6 35-36 17 
Cubs The Cubs' series win over the Giants over the weekend was the first since sweeping the Reds May 4-7. -- 37-35 18 
Diamondbacks It's been rather obvious for a while that Geraldo Perdomo's career year at the plate happened last season, but the D-backs could sure use better offensive production from him this season. Maybe he's getting hot? In his last 10 games, he's 12 for 34 (.353) and homered on Sunday. 3 36-35 19 
Blue Jays Dylan Cease already has 103 strikeouts in just 68 innings. It's too bad he missed a few starts, but he's still on pace for 235 strikeouts. The only Blue Jays pitchers in history to get there have been Roger Clemens (292 in 1997 and 271 in 1998), Robbie Ray (248 in 2021) and Kevin Gausman (237 in 2023). 7 34-38 20 
Orioles After a slow start, Pete Alonso has been a beast now for weeks. In his last 26 games, he's hitting .320/.397/.580 with eight homers and 24 RBI. 2 34-39 21 
Reds One of the nicest pickups of the offseason is turning out to be JJ Bleday. The Reds got him for just one year and $1.4 million. In only 42 games, he has 12 home runs and is slugging .570. 1 33-37 22 
Mets Is Bo Bichette waking up? Juan Soto could sure use some help. Bichette in his last 10 games is 16 for 41 (.390) with three doubles, a triple and three home runs. The Mets are 6-4 in those games. 1 32-39 23 
Twins Here's a list of players with a higher slugging percentage than Byron Buxton: Yordan Alvarez, Ben Rice. That's it. That's the list. 3 33-40 24 
Astros Somewhat quietly, Christian Walker is having the best power season of his career. The .502 slugging would mark a career high and he has 18 homers, putting him on pace for 40. His career high is 36. 3 33-40 25 
Tigers Those two losses to the Guardians really hurt as the Tigers try to stick around in the race and avoid having their front office trade Tarik Skubal -- who returned Saturday in a mixed bag of an outing. 1 29-42 26 
Royals Is Jac Caglianone figuring out MLB pitching? In 12 games in June, he's 17 for 41 (.414) with two doubles, three home runs, nine RBI and 10 runs. 1 29-43 27 
Red Sox They won the series, but the Sunday loss dropped the Red Sox to 12-22 at home in Fenway Park this season. They aren't even bad on the road. The reason this team isn't a contender is due to losing far too often at home. -- 29-40 28 
Angels The four-game winning streak through Saturday matched a season high for the Halos. 2 29-43 29 
Giants From May 17 through June 10, Jung Hoo Lee raised his batting average from .263 to .338. It was quite a run. He was 33 for 59 (.559) in that stretch. He followed with a pair of hitless games but then gathered two more knocks on Sunday. 1 29-43 30 
Rockies The Rockies scored 23 runs on Sunday, good for a franchise record. How about that? The team playing in the most notoriously hitter-friendly park in the majors (probably in MLB history) set a franchise record for runs in a game on the road. Of course, it was in Las Vegas in a notoriously hitter-friendly minor-league yard, but still, this is funny. 1 27-45 Add CBS Sports on Google Join the Conversation comments 
